AJ Cook Is Returning To Criminal Minds

Is it me or is Criminal Minds starting to have a serious Grey's Anatomy behind the scenes vibe? Normally, after a show finds its comfort zone, one person may step away every few seasons, but that exodus usually isn't contentious and ordinarily isn't forced by the producers. Criminal Minds threw out that rulebook last year though after they bizarrely didn't renew AJ Cook's contract, talked of demoting Paget Brewster and brought in Rachel Nichols who fans have been at best meh on. For the life of me, I'm not sure why the show would tinker with a formula that's played so well with viewers, but today's news seems to indicate the producers realize they may have made a mistake.

AJ Cook has just signed a two year contract to return to Criminal Minds, just one year after her character was transferred to the Pentagon. According to Deadline, those in charge reportedly wooed her with a few promising new storylines for JJ, and she was sold on the potential of that altered direction. I would imagine a steady job also looked pretty nice.

The future of her co-star Paget Brewster is also still more up in the air than ever. Her pilot My Life As An Experiment still hasn't been picked up by NBC, and if the network ultimately passes, many are speculating she will return as well. All the coming and going may not strike viewers as overly believable, but something tells me they'll take character u-turns if it means having both of these girls back into the fold.